Local officials picketing outside my building last night.

[kingOFchester]

Local officials picketing outside my building last night. They had several signs attached to sticks and waving them up and down, just like you see during a strike. Wow, what is this all about? What does the sign read? Vote Yes.

I am now up to 15 mailing with the vote YES plastered all over them. Not to mention all the phone calls and meeting telling me to vote yes. Oh, still have not received the full description of the plan.

It most be so entertaining for UPS to look out the windows and see the union at odds with their members and pushing for a yes vote. They have to be getting a kick out of the fact that the supplements that were voted down have been enhanced by the union. They didn't have to give anything or negotiate with the union. Just sitting back and watching the members and the boards negotiate and bicker back and forth. Who would of thought we would see the day where we are negotiating with the union and UPS gets to watch the dog and pony shows taking place outside the building. I am sure the main thought is "look how weak the union is".

Still haven't voted on the latest supplement.

 

[BMWMC]

The rest of the countries UPS workers are waiting on there pay raises too. All the "No" voters aught to watch this Frontline episode so they can see just how lucky they are just to have a contract especially those piss-pots in the non-dues paying Right To Work States.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/two-american-families




[h=1]The State of America’s Middle Class in Eight Charts[/h]
​[URL]http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/business-economy-financial-crisis/two-american-families/the-state-of-americas-middle-class-in-eight-charts/


[/URL]

 

[kingOFchester]

DetNews: Hoffa: Health Costs Destroying our Economy | International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)

Hoffa's comments on why he endorses National Healthcare.

"
Health care costs are destroying our nation's economic edge. The cards are stacked against American companies as they try to compete with low-cost, low-wage foreign producers.
The only real solution to this crisis is national health care. Meeting such a basic need should not force government budgets, companies and workers into the red. As the crisis grows, more and more Americans, workers and corporate leaders alike, are calling for government action.
We invite General Motors, Delphi, Sikorsky, UTC, Waste Management and other corporations to stop fighting against us and start fighting along side us"


Its quite the read and pretty much explains where we are heading with all UPS Teamsters going into one plan.

 

[InsideUPS]

Local officials picketing outside my building last night. They had several signs attached to sticks and waving them up and down, just like you see during a strike. Wow, what is this all about? What does the sign read? Vote Yes.

I am now up to 15 mailing with the vote YES plastered all over them. Not to mention all the phone calls and meeting telling me to vote yes. Oh, still have not received the full description of the plan.

It most be so entertaining for UPS to look out the windows and see the union at odds with their members and pushing for a yes vote. They have to be getting a kick out of the fact that the supplements that were voted down have been enhanced by the union. They didn't have to give anything or negotiate with the union. Just sitting back and watching the members and the boards negotiate and bicker back and forth. Who would of thought we would see the day where we are negotiating with the union and UPS gets to watch the dog and pony shows taking place outside the building. I am sure the main thought is "look how weak the union is".

Still haven't voted on the latest supplement.

Thank you for your post kingOFchester. I share your concerns about the perception of our Union. "Overselling" our contract by the IBT is an issue amongst some of our Local members. I had a 35+ year feeder driver come up to me the other day and say; "I got 3 mailings from the Union urging me to vote YES.....if they (the IBT) are pushing it so hard there must be something wrong with the contract.....I'm voting No and No."

I find it ironic that the same people that complain that the IBT does not communicate with it's members......are the same one's that complain when the IBT does communicate with it's members. I've come to the conclusion that some people will never be pleased no matter what is presented to them.

The bottom line regarding these contract negotiations can be summed up by the following:

1) We will never go on strike....we can't....UPS could replace us all in a heartbeat with the technology they have in place.

2) Not settling our contract is not good for anyone.....our customers...our families....ourselves...and our Union.

3) Union UPS workers receive some of the best wage and benefit packages in the world. Where can a part-time employee receive comprehensive H & W benefits., a pension of $2100/month, up to 7 weeks and 2 days paid vacation and option days, retirement health care benefits, etc..?

4) No matter what or how the contract language is written......UPS will always be in control in some manner. "He who has the gold...makes the rules".....a plaque that hung in my mother's accounting office for years...

In the end.....continuing to vote down the contract is very risky business... The possible benefits gained certainly do not outweigh the risk of what will happen if we lose customers.....our jobs....or the existence of our Union....the IBT. It is time to reestablish unity...and move on with our lives..

 

[PiedmontSteward]

1) We will never go on strike....we can't....UPS could replace us all in a heartbeat with the technology they have in place.

I have to categorically disagree with you here. Even with the shift of volume to smalls due to e-commerce and the "NextGen" automated small sort systems in the hubs, ORION, PAS, proposed safety enhancements to feeder cabs including lane integrity monitoring, etc etc. UPS could not effectively replace the current workforce and still pump out volume the way they're doing now. I firmly believe UPS will try and really take us on in the future -- they flirted with the idea over health care and may have even figured they would "force" us into a Taft-Hartley plan (TeamCare) in the grand scheme of things in order to get retiree/future retiree healthcare liabilities off the books and improve their stock price.

anonymous stated in a post a week or so ago that UPS would love to re-organize into a purely business-to-business shipper and eliminate residential deliveries; the effectiveness and growing market share of the FedEx Ground model ($15/hr, no overtime, no benefits, contractors maintain the vehicle.. effectively less than half of the total compensation package of a UPS driver) is something I constantly hear even as a steward during local level meetings with the regional labor manager. Additionally, with Amazon and even eBay experimenting with same-day deliveries from their distribution centers via the 1099 independent contract model for delivery drivers (no benefits, no overtime, no protection), I could see UPS chomping at the bit to cut residential deliveries out of their business model and let FedEx Ground and the other "rising shippers" eat the cost of doing that for much, much cheaper.

When UPS pushed their "last, best, and final" offer in 1997, they were still a privately held company that was strangely hell-bent on shoving an awful contract (including turning feeder work over to an owner/operator model) down our throats. That was back during the more paternalistic days of management and many senior managers claim that the strike was really when that relationship was irrevocably altered. Point blank: Post-IPO, a significant portion of UPS is now owned by Wall Street: hedge funds, JP Morgan Chase, and other assorted financiers and banksters (the same people that crashed our economy and came out even richer than before) that want to wring every cent out of this company that they can.

 

[PT Stewie]

UPS is contributing $343.82 per week up to $461.02 per /wk (2017) in health and welfare for full time and $213.77 up to $296.57 for part time .This has passed ! The IBT has enhanced the particulars after a poor job the first time around to something very acceptable.Compared to what most Americans have we are way above the high water mark. The next vote will be a strike vote. Do we want to kill the goose that layed the golden egg ? Look oustside your brown world and see how others are doing. I know because my day job would cost $800.00 per month for inferior benefits with higher copays and a $2K deductable . My advice is to read those signs and but an X in the yes box.

 

[rpoz11]

DetNews: Hoffa: Health Costs Destroying our Economy | International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)

Hoffa's comments on why he endorses National Healthcare.

"
Health care costs are destroying our nation's economic edge. The cards are stacked against American companies as they try to compete with low-cost, low-wage foreign producers.

'The only real solution to this crisis is national health care' .[\quote].

WOW
Health Care is the solution to all of this?
Unbelievable!!!!

 

[chuchu]

Thank you for your post kingOFchester. I share your concerns about the perception of our Union. "Overselling" our contract by the IBT is an issue amongst some of our Local members. I had a 35+ year feeder driver come up to me the other day and say; "I got 3 mailings from the Union urging me to vote YES.....if they (the IBT) are pushing it so hard there must be something wrong with the contract.....I'm voting No and No."

I find it ironic that the same people that complain that the IBT does not communicate with it's members......are the same one's that complain when the IBT does communicate with it's members. I've come to the conclusion that some people will never be pleased no matter what is presented to them.

The bottom line regarding these contract negotiations can be summed up by the following:

1) We will never go on strike....we can't....UPS could replace us all in a heartbeat with the technology they have in place.

2) Not settling our contract is not good for anyone.....our customers...our families....ourselves...and our Union.

3) Union UPS workers receive some of the best wage and benefit packages in the world. Where can a part-time employee receive comprehensive H & W benefits., a pension of $2100/month, up to 7 weeks and 2 days paid vacation and option days, retirement health care benefits, etc..?

4) No matter what or how the contract language is written......UPS will always be in control in some manner. "He who has the gold...makes the rules".....a plaque that hung in my mother's accounting office for years...

In the end.....continuing to vote down the contract is very risky business... The possible benefits gained certainly do not outweigh the risk of what will happen if we lose customers.....our jobs....or the existence of our Union....the IBT. It is time to reestablish unity...and move on with our lives..

Don't forget to put a stamp on your intent letter.
If the Central Supp and the Ohio Rider passes this time I hope Right to Work comes to Ohio. Maybe our worthless BA can get a real job and buy his own car.
FYI: the healthcare "enhancements" are NOT guaranteed so let's do our homework (like read Art 45 MOU) and remember who is telling the truth. It's not Mr. Hall.

 

[Bubblehead]

Don't forget to put a stamp on your intent letter.
If the Central Supp and the Ohio Rider passes this time I hope Right to Work comes to Ohio. Maybe our worthless BA can get a real job and buy his own car.
FYI: the healthcare "enhancements" are NOT guaranteed so let's do our homework (like read Art 45 MOU) and remember who is telling the truth. It's not Mr. Hall.

If you don't stop it, they are going to divert all of Ohio's volume to....Cleveland????

 

[chuchu]

Come on Piedmont, I was joking about Right to Work.....but not about the car.

 

[PiedmontSteward]

Fair enough, I'll make it up to you.

I still don't understand why you have a problem with a BA having a car provided by their local. They do an awful lot of driving between barns, grievance panels, and meeting guys taken off the job if they can't afford the gas to drive to the hall.

 

[InsideUPS]

1) We will never go on strike....we can't....UPS could replace us all in a heartbeat with the technology they have in place.

I have to categorically disagree with you here. Even with the shift of volume to smalls due to e-commerce and the "NextGen" automated small sort systems in the hubs, ORION, PAS, proposed safety enhancements to feeder cabs including lane integrity monitoring, etc etc. UPS could not effectively replace the current workforce and still pump out volume the way they're doing now.

Time Out Piedmont..using a word set like "categorically disagree" followed by conditional statements such as; "could not effectively replace the current workforce and still pump out volume the way they're doing now" is somewhat of a "foul"... Your last statement has the inference that we could be replaced....although not effectively...while still maintaining the same productivity...

Note that I only said they could replace us......and mentioned nothing about productivity.........I still believe that we could be replaced..... Not very difficult to change those PAL labels from RED to ROJO.....if you know what I mean.... Driving jobs certainly would be more challenging to replace although I still feel that given the number of people out of work....we would have them lined up around the block to take our jobs... For many of us...they could hire 2-3 people to replace us without paying out more in wages. It would not be too long before UPS would be up and running in an efficient manner....

BTW.....I also base my statement on the belief that the majority of UPS Teamsters would not last more than one to two weeks before they would think about or actually cross picket lines. Based on my 97 experience......there are too many people depending on that $1000-$1500 per week to make their house, car, and other payments....

It's all okay with me Piedmont....we can "categorically agree to disagree" on issues.......... and I would still vote you into office.....

 

[chuchu]

Fair enough, I'll make it up to you.

I still don't understand why you have a problem with a BA having a car provided by their local. They do an awful lot of driving between barns, grievance panels, and meeting guys taken off the job if they can't afford the gas to drive to the hall.

The issue is: we don't have enough people to vote him out of office due to another larger employer in the local that they wine and dine for votes. He's extremely untruthful toward our members and the central regions reps at the IBT has investigated him for unethical actions twice and found that the allegations were true but not enough to remove him, he has to be voted out. Hes stabbed us in the back multiple times and works against us to help the company. That's the reason for our animosity. Unfortunately, we aren't the only local in our area that has this problem. There's too much to list in this post but we have valid reasons for being disgusted with paying dues to a local that is so crooked. VERY frustrating.

 

[PiedmontSteward]

The issue is: we don't have enough people to vote him out of office due to another larger employer in the local that they wine and dine for votes. He's extremely untruthful toward our members and the central regions reps at the IBT has investigated him for unethical actions twice and found that the allegations were true but not enough to remove him, he has to be voted out. Hes stabbed us in the back multiple times and works against us to help the company. That's the reason for our animosity. Unfortunately, we aren't the only local in our area that has this problem. There's too much to list in this post but we have valid reasons for being disgusted with paying dues to a local that is so crooked. VERY frustrating.

One of the quickest ways to get things fixed with a bad BA is to get as many affected members together as possible and put him on blast during the next union meeting. We had one get **** canned this way several years ago.

 

[8Keys]

Thank you for your post kingOFchester. I share your concerns about the perception of our Union. "Overselling" our contract by the IBT is an issue amongst some of our Local members. I had a 35+ year feeder driver come up to me the other day and say; "I got 3 mailings from the Union urging me to vote YES.....if they (the IBT) are pushing it so hard there must be something wrong with the contract.....I'm voting No and No." I find it ironic that the same people that complain that the IBT does not communicate with it's members......are the same one's that complain when the IBT does communicate with it's members. I've come to the conclusion that some people will never be pleased no matter what is presented to them.

The IBT oversells everything for as long as I've been in the union. Every communication, public or private, seems to be primarily about patting themselves on the back and puffing the chest out. It comes at the expense of credibility. What if they release press info about how great an agreement is and then the membership ends up striking? It would make the membership look terrible. How will people feel if a concession ends up really hurting them and the contract info completely glossed over it? We've been through some tough years and the job market on the outside is very competitive. This contract might have been an easier sell if it were portrayed as the compromise it is instead of a glorious triumph.

 

[chuchu]

One of the quickest ways to get things fixed with a bad BA is to get as many affected members together as possible and put him on blast during the next union meeting. We had one get **** canned this way several years ago.

It's coming.We're all fed up in this local. Thx for the heads up.